Presented in Association with the Center for Asian American Media
Exuberant, witty, and politically incisive, Tahimik’s now classic 1977 feature/essay Perfumed Nightmare takes a wry look at American cultural influence and globalization from the artist’s playful and idiosyncratic perspective. The nightmare is the “cocoon of American dreams” which the film evokes and then parodies. From Tahimik’s childhood village, where Voice of America, movies, and space travel transform his lively imagination, the film moves to Paris and Bavaria where he tastes the fruits of the capitalism alongside an American bubble gum entrepreneur. Produced with the help of Werner Herzog, Perfumed Nightmare “reminds one that invention, insolence, enchantment –even innocence– are still available on film” according to Susan Sontag.